Come From Away - Phoenix / U.K & Ireland Tour 2024

Here they are  

I especially like this passage from the NY Times: 

"But we are now in a moment in which millions of immigrants are homeless and denied entry to increasingly xenophobic nations, including the United States. A tale of an insular populace that doesn’t think twice before opening its arms to an international throng of strangers automatically acquires a near-utopian nimbus. 

So does the reminder that there was a time when much of the Western world united in the face of catastrophe. And when politicians who have since become the butts of jaded jokes (hey there, Rudolph Giuliani and Tony Blair) stood tall as leaders of substance."  

Maybe some of the professional critics on the main newspapers felt they couldn't quite embrace the show's message as wholeheartedly, now that on the verge of Brexit this very country holds its arms less than fully open to foreigners and most politicians in power can only aspire to be the butts of jaded jokes? 

I’m going again tonight . My rush seat today is row P stalls.

Hal Prince said with Follies that reviews count for the first few months and then after that it's all word of mouth.

Looking at the low stars for this and some of the tosh that gets awards (book of Mormon and Bat out of Hell) reinforces my mantra of just go with your instincts and sod the critics and 'esteemed'judging panels

The Guardian and Daily Mail actually think; Bat Out Of Hell, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I Can’t Sing, Bend It Like Beckham and The Girls are better than this, no wonder why theatre journalism is on a downward spiral.

Shows aren’t reviewed against each other though. They are just reviewed against a rather woolly star system that exists in the reviewers head.

The One Show should question the quality of their researchers.
A real life couple who feature in the show were just on talking about their story and Matt Baker asked them if they were going to catch the 2nd act tonight!

Band D&E are sold out on ATG, so it’s possibly sold out up there.

All apart from the Guardian, the stars are actually awarded by the sub-editor. Aware shows aren’t competing against each other, but the woolly star system invites that.
You are very much in the minority not liking this one. As for preferring Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, you should go to the Bridge Theatre immediately and mean immediately and have an exorcism performed by Sir Nicholas Hytner.

Being half term would expect most matinees to be sold well.

So my hot take is that musically I found it very difficult to warm to in the first 30-40 minutes but warmed to book and characters. The songs all sound the same and it felt like musically it had a boring identity because it needed to establish these characters with only minimal props.

For me it all comes together during the Newfoundlander song, the welcome the plane people get felt like musically the show was able to trust its audience and provide diverse memorable tunes and it came together as musical rather than a play with songs.

There isn't a weak link amongst the cast or casting, what I like about it is that if I were involved in Amdram I would be looking for the rights for this because it is such a feel good community production about being being kind and the emotional rewards kindness can bring when we break down out borders and trust each other.

For the reasons above I can see why professional critics haven't raved about it, the fact it feels like it would well in Amdram suggests an unprofessional feel, the lack of star names don't help and the lack of memorable tunes throughout. Perhaps for critics if they didn't warm to it immediately then it's general niceness isn't enough. It is much deeper production, especially in the book, that a lot of critics are giving credit for but in the long term I am sceptical if it can survive on word of mouth/strong social media alone.

Saw this last night, I too took a little while to warm up, I think it was adjusting to the accents and the whole style of the piece. But after about 30 mins or so, was smitten, and came out on such a high. Great to see such a diverse cast on stage (not just pretty young things and a token oldie or two), and loved the band. Unlike The Guardian, I didn’t struggle with the “relentless niceness”, I felt it was the perfect balance to the constant presence of the awfulness of the attacks.

Seats were K2-5, back row of the dress circle, and amazed how great they were for the price. A perfect view of the stage, and didn’t feel far away at all. My 11 and 13 year olds came out on a high too, in case anyone wonders about suitable for / appealing to children (a couple of swear words but barely noticed). And we got a badge each from the usher at the exit door, perfect end!

Indeed - I was the same. My main issue was the music was so bland (and didn't improve for me hearing it live which I was hoping it might).

And I do get what a lot of the 3 star reviews are getting at - it was TOO saccharine and desperately needed some light and shade - despite the generosity of the Newfoundlanders this was the darkest and most horrific week of modern history. And that would have affected people. For me, it should have been deeper.